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Okatsune Secateurs

Okatsune secateurs are the No. 1 choice for professional gardeners in Japan; made from high carbon steel they’re simple, sharp and strong.

The reason we have started using these is simple – we worked in a garden that had 45 mature apple trees and 9 mature pear trees, all in need of renovation over several years.

Each winter the work got easier, as we thinned branches and opened up the trees to create a goblet shape on each one, but the work still involved long hours stood on a ladder in the freezing cold, moving nothing more than our fingers in order to cut the fruit trees branches.

It got so cold I could never open the Felco’s, because they have that little clasp that you use the thumb to move. When you can no longer feel your thumb because it is that cold, they just won’t do – so we tried the Okatsune, with their great big clasp at the bottom of the handle, to see if that made life better.

It did. We were still freezing cold, but at least we could open the secateurs sensibly and quickly.

(Don’t get us wrong, we like Felco’s) but these secateurs are the ones for us – the steel is strong, the tools are light and the blade can be sharpened easily.